Doing exercise on the weekends alone may be just as effective as working out during the week for slowing down mental decline, according to studies.One or two days of exercise was found to be more helpful than more frequent workouts at lowering the risk of mild dementia, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It contributes to the increasing amount of evidence showing that exercise itself benefits health, not the type of exercise you perform.

Being a weekend exercise “warrior” lowers the risk of more than 200 ailments, from diabetes and high blood pressure to mood problems and kidney disease, according to a different study released last month.

The latest study determined: “The weekend warrior physical activity pattern may be a more convenient option for busy people around the world.” Researchers discovered that the “weekend warriors” who worked out once or twice a week had an average 15% lower risk of mild dementia, while the “regularly active” who worked out more frequently had an average 10% lower risk.

The researchers predicted that both methods of exercise had comparable effects after controlling for variables that could affect the results, including as age, smoking, sleep length, nutrition, and alcohol consumption.

“We found that around 10% of [mild dementia] cases would be eliminated if all middle-aged adults were to take part in sport or exercise once or twice per week or more often,” they said.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first prospective cohort study to show that the weekend warrior physical activity pattern is associated with reduced risk of mild dementia.” For the most recent study, researchers from Colombia, Chile, and Glasgow looked at two sets of survey data from the Mexico City Prospective Study.

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The average age of the 10,033 respondents to both surveys was 51. The authors offered a number of potential justifications for why exercise might shield the brain.

“Exercise may increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations [molecules that support the growth and survival of neurons] and brain plasticity,” they said. “Physical activity is also associated with greater brain volume, greater executive function and greater memory.”

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Following a dementia diagnosis, exercise of any intensity is associated with a 30% decreased risk of dying from any cause, according to a second study published in the same journal. According to those experts, those who are impacted should be encouraged to continue or begin an exercise regimen, particularly because the typical lifespan following a dementia diagnosis may only be four to five years.